


Shardling Secret Santa Gift for Feather

by Just_This_Once_Everybody_Lives



Category: Cosmere - Fandom, SANDERSON Brandon - Works, Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, I guess this is me writing fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-08
Packaged: 2018-01-07 22:59:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1125403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_This_Once_Everybody_Lives/pseuds/Just_This_Once_Everybody_Lives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One off: Renarin gives Shallan a tour of the camp on the shattered plains.</p><p>This fic fits in with another fic (Adolin/Kaladin) of mine, the first chapter of that fic will be uploaded by the end of this week and there will be some follow up from this fic in that fic so stay tuned :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shardling Secret Santa Gift for Feather

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FeatherWriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherWriter/gifts).



Shallan Davar sat at the desk of the room she now shared with Brightness Jasnah Kholin in the palace on the shattered plains. It had been just one day since her arrival and already she missed the archives of Kharbranth. The room that she now stayed in was large, high-ceilinged and somewhat daunting. It was odd for her, being daunted by a room. She hadn’t felt daunted by ships, great archives, palaces or many people high above her rank and yet she felt a chill sitting in this room. 

The room was furnished with a dressing table with a mirror with glowing gems placed into the wood around it, one cushioned chair, two beds (diagonally, one on either side of the room), a hearth and the desk at which Shallan now sat. There was also a closet which she and Jasnah now split. The room smelled like mineral dust and Jasnah (whether it was that Jasnah’s sent permeated the room very quickly or that Jasnah smelled like her family Shallan did not know). 

Jasnah was off early that morning to speak with her brother the King, leaving Shallan in the palace of Jasnah’s uncle Dalinar which is where the room with the desk at which Shallan now sat was located.   
After sitting at the desk for quite a while Shallan seemed to remember that her sketch book was still tucked under her left arm. She brough it out and set the sketch book on the desk, opened it, flipped through it all the way past 3 pages filled with sketches of the flora and fauna of the shattered plains, that she of course had sketched on her journey from Kharbrath, to the next blank page. She then closed her eyes and began to search her mind for an image to portray when there was a knock at the door.

Shallan skipped a heartbeat. Her eyes opened and there the knock was again, slightly more timid this time.

Shallan cleared her throat. “Come in,” she answered.

The door creaked open and a blond head peaked around the corner, followed by glasses, followed by the shoulders of a blue uniform Shallan had already become familiar with. “Brightness Shallan Davar?”

“Yes,” She said, standing from her chair and smoothing her dress. “Come in.”

The blond stepped into the room and smiled sheepishly. For a moment he just looked at her and then he seemed to remember that he had something to say, “I’m Brightprince Renarin Davar, uhm, oh! I meant Kholin...” He blushed furiously. “I thought you might like a tour of the camp.”

The poor boy looked down at his feet, his hair falling into his face slightly, Shallan knew she had to say something. If she were in a proper state of mind she would have bowed and addressed him by his proper title but instead she said, “Oh! You’re Jasnah’s cousin. I’d love to.”

Thus Shallan soon found herself strolling down the hallways of the palace with a man she had already intimidated.

__

“Brightprince. Renarin. Davar.... How?” Renarin thought to himself trying his best to keep a calm facade as he walked through the palace doors and out through the streets. Brightness Davar strode alongside him.

“I figured, you being the scholarly type, we might start in the Gallery of Maps?” Renarin said. 

“Sounds wonderful.” Shallan said smiling.

She had a sketchbook under her arm and a blue dress with white embroidery on. The dress was just a few shades to light to be Kholin blue, it made her red hair look exceptionally bright though. Her hair fell in wide curls around her face. Renarin realized he was staring and quickly looked away as the pair turned a corner.

“Well, here it is.” He said as they approached a smallish, dome shaped building. He opened the door for her, letting her in first.

“Wow,” She said observing the skylights briefly before turning her full attention to the maps. “I’ve seen this in a book before.” Walking immediately to the Prime Map of the shattered plains. “It was an altered version though. This maps the entire shattered plains?”

“That we know of.” Renarin responded.

“It’s amazing to see it in person. Most of the maps I’ve studied were all downsized to fit into books, you can see so much more detail this way.”

Shallan continued from map to map commenting and asking questions here and there. Renarin did his best to answer them though in all honesty he learned more from her comments than she could from his answers. Once she had circled the whole room she came to a noticeable blank spot on the wall.

Renarin piped in without need of questioning, “That’s where they used to keep tally of the gemhearts won by each highprince, now that those battles aren’t taking place anymore, it has been taken down.”

“I see,” Shallan responded. “Where to next?”

“The market?”

“Sounds good to me.”

__

About an hour later Shallan and Renarin had made it through several shops, Shallan had purchased a new sketch pad at one of them mentioning that hers was about to run out of room. The new sketch pad now sat under her arm with the other one. Renarin had loosened up along the way and she was beginning to enjoy his conversation.

At one point a darkeyed man in a Kholin uniform and matching headband walked past them. As they passed Renarin raised his hands, crossing them at the wrist and nodded to the man.

“Did you just salute a darkeyes?” Shallan had asked, not disturbed but curious. 

“He saved my father’s life when Sadeas abandoned him and his army to the Parshendi, he’s a captain now, the head of my father’s personal gard. They call him Kaladin Stormblessed.” 

Shallan looked back at the man momentarily before returning to their previous conversation about soulcasting.

Not to much later Jasnah turned a corner, “There you are! Shallan I need your assistance.”

“Oh,” Shallan said looking a bit disappointed.

“ Hello,” Said Renarin.

“Sorry cousin, not trying to ignore you, things to do.” Jasnah waved beckoning Shallan to follow her.

“Thank you, for the tour. I had a good time.” Shallan said to Renarin.

“We’ll have to continue it sometime.” He responded, pausing before holding out his hand to shake.

Shallan took his hand and without thinking twice pulled him into a quick hug. “Definitely.” She said letting him go. 

Jasnah began all but pulling her away. She looked back though, blinking, she committed the surprised and slightly embarrassed face of Renarin Kholin to memory. 

__

 

The Assassin in White was in the palace. The door was locked and 2 darkeyed guards with strange tattoos on their foreheads stood facing the door, spears at their side. Shallan sat on Jasnah’s bed in the far corner of the room. Jasnah had not wanted to sit at first but did after Shallan’s persuajon. Jasnah took Shallan’s freehand in her own. At first Shallan was confused but looking up she could practically see the stress and worry buzzing around Jasnah.

Why had the assassin broke into Dalinar’s palace and not Elhokar’s? The assassin had successfully killed off the highest authority of each kingdom he visited, why would he come here?

The large, soulcast room which Shallan and Jasnah shared was on the opposite side of the palace as Dalinar’s and his sons. Shallan couldn’t help but to worry about Renarin. 

She thought she heard a sound and jumped to her feet. Jasnah looked up at her with a concerned look on her face. The guards had not flinched. It must have been nothing.

Jasnah walked over to her dressing table and took a book from the pile there. “This is a book Dalinar recommend, I did a flip through, I’ve not yet decided whether it will have any good information in it or not..” She said quietly, handing Shallan the book.

Shallan took a deep breath, calming her heart beat. She took the book at sat back down. The book showed wear, it’s title looked as though someone had run their fingers over it many times. “The Way of Kings” it read. She had seen the book before in the Palanaeum but never took it off the shelf. She didn’t feel as though she could focus on a book in that moment but she opened it anyway, staring at it’s first page.

__

Renarin crouched behind a stand of swords in the armory. Adolin had done exactly what Kaladin had told him not to do and left through the servants entrance after finding the main entrance to be locked from the outside. 

He wore his father’s shardplate, or rather his own shardplate but it didn’t feel like his. It was still un-painted, it hadn’t felt right to have it painted. It was only the third time he had ever put it on. The first two were for training sessions. Everything was different with shardplate on. His strength (which he normally had little of) was heightened, he was careful not to touch things. He felt like a monster.

He heard Kaladin shout at his brother in the hallway, nothing unexpected there, then he heard the sound of swords colliding. He shut his eyes tightly. He didn’t know what to do. The Assassin in White had killed full shardbarers and left the shards as if they were nothing. He began to feel the same inner panic he had felt in that one terrible moment when he believed he was highprince. He was not ready to lose his family. 

There was more clanking and crashing in the hallway, he could hear Kaladin yelling off orders to Adolin and, there was a third voice, one he didn’t recognise. It was a feminine voice that could not have been the assassin’s. It was quieter than the others so he could not quite make out what it was saying. He heard a screech of what must have been his brother sliding down the hallway, his heart was nearly pounding out of his chest and then silence.

He waited, Nothing. He stood and walked towards the door, it was unlocked now. He peered around the corner to see the Assassin in White on the floor, alive but unable to move, Kaladin knelt over him, spear at his throat, questioning him furiously but inaudibly. For a moment he say a small, spren-like figure over Kaladin’s shoulder but she disappeared. It looked as though Kaladin was glowing.

“What are you waiting for‽” His brother said, getting up from the hallway a few feet back. “Kill him.”

“You’ve got to have a dungeon somewhere, this man has information that we need to know.” Kaladin answered.

“He killed my uncle, he started a war, he doesn’t deserve to live.” Adolin responded.

“Renarin help me pin him down.” Kaladin said.

Renarin paused for a moment, realizing that he’d been noticed. He wanted to check and make sure his brother was uninjured but he did as Kaladin said, using all his enhanced strength to pin the assassin’s hands to the floor, making sure he could not summon his shardblade. For the first time he was glad for his enhanced strength. The assassin had a childlike face and dark eyes, he looked drained. Renarin tried not to look at his face. 

Adolin soon joined him in pinning the assassin to the ground as Kaladin ran off to get more guards with shackles to come and lock the assassin away. It seemed so odd, locking away what seemed to be the most dangerous man on Roshar, a man responsible for so many deaths. Defeated by a darkeyed captain. Stormblessed, Renarin believed it.

__

Two and a half days had past since the attack on the palace, Shallan had not heard much about it since other than that the darkeyed captain ‘Kaladin Stormblessed’ had brought him down and that the assassin was now in the dungeon with his hands bound so he couldn’t summon his blade. 

She had mostly stayed in her room pouring over books that Jasnah supplied since then. She thought and thought about how scared she had been. It had become instinctive for her to start counting her heart beats every time she felt that kind of fear. 

She drew as well, as always. She drew a shardblade repeatedly (as she was now). She drew Renarin, twice actually, she wasn’t quite happy with the first one. She had filled her old sketch book and started in the new one she had bought in the market with Renarin.

Jasnah had taken her out into the market for a midday meal the day before, she seemed happy to be with her family, even if Elhokar was a little odd towards her, she was getting along well with her uncle. The food they had bought at the market had spices that Shallan did not recognise, she enjoyed it. On her way back to the palace she saw Kaladin. She stopped and thanked him for protecting the Kholins, without really thinking, she hugged him. He was surprised by the hug but nodded anyway, said something about it being his job then headed off in the direction of the barracks. 

Shallan had been hoping to run in to Renarin but she did not. She sat at her desk with her freehand in her hair looking down at her sketch. Memories in her head seemed to fight each other for thought dominance.

There was a knock on the door. She got up quickly, brushing the wrinkles out of her dark purple dress. 

“Come in,” she said.

In through the door came Renarin with an arm behind his back. She smiled.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hello, brighpince.” She answered.

“I thought, now that things have settled down a bit, that we might continue our tour.”

“I’d like that.”

“I also brought you something, I asked Jasnah if she knew of something you’d like.” He held out a jar of jam.

She blushed furiously and tried not to laugh. “Thank you,” She said.

He stepped further into the room looking at the desk. “Are those you’re drawings he said.

Shallan panicked, both of her sketchbooks were, opened, he hadn’t looked to the other one yet, without thinking she brought her hand to his cheek turning his head to face her and kissed him. 

She felt a slight wave of shock go through him, then he relaxed and as she pulled away she had very little idea what to do.

“I actually have something for you too!” She blurted out, she quickly turned the pages of her sketchbook until she found the one of Renarin, the good one, the second one. She unbound it carefully and handed it to him. 

“This is amazing!” He smiled. “Thank you.” He reached out and kissed her one more time. 

She blushed slightly looking down. “On with the tour then?” 

“On with the tour.” He nodded.

End


End file.
